1902: Albert Namatjira was a Western Arrernte Aboriginal. He was born at the Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission on July 28, 1902. Albert was the first born son in his family. The Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission was situated at the base of Mount Hermannsburg on the banks of the Finke River, and it was here that Albert's parents received basic religious instruction. After three years of instruction, his parents were baptised on Christmas Eve 1905 in the little Mission Church at Hermannsburg. Namatjira and Ljukuta were baptised Jonathan and Emelia (Emilie) respectively, and their tribal union was given Christian blessing. Their young son, who they had called Elea, was baptised at the same time and given the name Albert, as it was the custom at Hermannsburg to give Aboriginal people only one name.
Albert did not adopt the use of his father's tribal name, Namatjira, until some thirty-three years later, when he was advised before his first Solo Exhibition in December 1938 that his paintings should include a second name. Up until that time he had signed his watercolours Albert and in one or two instances he signed these early exhibited works Namatjira Albert.
Little is known of Albert's early life. It is known that he attended the School at the Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission, which was supervised at that time by the Superintendent, Rev Carl Strehlow.

For part of his early life, Albert lived in the boy's dormitory at the Mission. He regularly attended the Mission Church, and is remembered as a quiet youth who was a quick learner, intelligent, self-assured and thoughtful. The children in the dormitory were provided with rations from the Mission meat house.

1920: Around eighteen years of age, Albert to avoid both tribal and Mission strictures, eloped with Ilkalita to neutral country beyond the Arrernte and Mission boundaries. He stayed away from the Mission for three years, finding work on nearby cattle stations and by carrying goods to remote stations with Afghan camel strings. When he returned to the Mission, he brought with him Ilkalita and their three young children.

1923: In November 1923, Ilkalita was baptised and given the name Rubina and their marriage was formally blessed. Their three children, two boys and a girl were also baptised at this time, and given the names Enos, Oscar and Maisie. These were the first of ten children of Albert and Rubina, being 5 boys and 5 girls.

1928: The 1920's were times of severe drought in Central Australia. To raise money for the Mission during these Depression years, the new Superintendent of the Mission, Pastor F W Albrecht established a craft industry and encouraged Aboriginal people at the Mission to produce items that could be sold to visiting tourists. These included items such as boomerangs which displayed burnt pokerwork designs and polished mulga wood plaques which were decorated with designs of native flowers, and of Central Australian landscapes with emus and kangaroos, accurately observed in the foreground.
Albert proved to be very capable of producing these mulga wood plaques and began inscribing them with Biblical tests. Apart from these pokerwork mulga wood wall plaques, Albert also decorated coat hangers, boomerangs and woomera with pokerwork designs.

1932: Albert received his first art commission. This was from Constable W Mackinnon for a dozen pokerwork mulga wood plaques, for which Albert received five shilling for each in 1932. In June 1932, Miss Una Teague and a party of Victorians visited the Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission. During 1932, Albert who was ambitious to earn money for his ever growing family, spent time working at the Henbury cattle station. This was unfortunate for Albert, for while he was building a stockyard at Henbury, Rex Battarbee and John Gardner visited the Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission while on a caravan trip to Central Australia. Albert was not to meet Battarbee until his next caravan trip in 1934, and even then did not have the opportunity to receive any tuition from Battarbee.

1933: Una Teague returned to the Mission with her well-known artist sister, Violet Teague in 1933. Concerned about the plight of the Hermannsburg Aboriginal people, on their return to Melbourne they organised a charity art exhibition and The Argus opened a subscription fund. Over two thousand pounds was raised for a water scheme for Hermannsburg and a pipeline was laid from Kaporija Springs to the Mission, a distance of some seven kilometres.
Albert captured this occasion by decorating a mulga wood boomerang with pokerwork, depicting a group of seven of the workmen laying the water pipes in the trench.

1934: In the winter months of 1934, watercolourist Rex Battarbee and fellow artist, John Gardner revisited the Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission, where they held an exhibition of their watercolour paintings of the MacDonnell Ranges.
Albert studied these paintings at length, and as he showed an interest in emulating the work by these artists he was soon provided with his own box of watercolours and watercolour paper by the Mission Superintendent, Pastor Albrecht.

1935: Albert produced his first attempts at watercolour, in 1935. In May 1935, one double sided work he presented as a gift to Mr F C G Wallent, of the Lutheran Mission Board. In 1949, he was shown this work and agreed to sign it. He wrote on the work This is my first painting and on the reverse wrote The Fleeing Kangaroo.
Rubina gave birth to their eighth child, Violet, who lived for only five months. Of their six remaining children, Enos, Oscar, Maisie and Hazel attending the Mission School, Ewald was born in 1930 and Martha was born in 1932.

1936: In the winter of 1936, Rex Battarbee returned and provided Albert with two months watercolour tuition while on a journey into the heart of the Western Arrernte. Albert offered Battarbee his services as camel boy in return for painting lessons.
Battarbee was amazed at the rapid progress of his pupil. At first he encouraged him to draw with crayons on scraps of cardboard, but Albert was anxious to learn and within a fortnight had advanced to watercolours and produced a picture of his own initiative.
Battarbee later noted that Albert quickly understood the rules of perspective, composition, and the way of seeing colour and setting down on paper. He understood and utilised the fundamentals of art that had taken some people many years to learn.
Rex Battarbee is believed to have received tuition in watercolour painting for his sister, who in turn had taken formal lessons under Walter Wither. In later years it was claimed that Albert was not the only one. Within seven years another group of Arrernte artists had arrived under Rex's guidance. However it is also very likely that Albert had a hand in teaching his family members watercolour painting in the European manner, and his financial success would certainly have acted as a catalyst and incentive to those around him.
Albert's paintings produced on this trip with Battarbee and in the following years included, among other sites, landscapes of: Ormiston Gorge, Glen Helen Gorge, Gosse's Range, Standley Chasm, Palm Valley in the Krichauff Ranges, Mount Hermannsburg, James Range, Western MacDonnell Range, Mount Sonder and Simpson's Gap.

1937: In March 1937, Pastor Albrecht took ten of Albert's watercolours to the Lutheran Synodical Conference held in Nuriootpa, South Australia. The works were priced between five and ten shillings each, and while there, Pastor Albrecht sold four of the works and to lesson Albert's disappointment, purchased two of the works himself. On his return to the Mission, Albert was greatly encouraged by the news that he had sold six paintings.
Rex Battarbee also included three of Albert Namatjira's works in an exhibition of his own works in Adelaide. This exhibition title Central Australia Water Colours by Rex Battarbee was held at the Royal South Australian Society of Arts Gallery, from July 29 to August 14, 1937.
The catalogue lists forty-seven works by Battarbee, many of which were painted in Western Arrernte country that Albert Namatjira was to later capture in his works. Albert's three works were not listed in the catalogue and although exhibited for show, were noted as not for sale. A collection box was placed near his works and yielded eight pounds, and a Mrs A E V Richardson started a collection that bought Albert his first professional range of brushes, paints and watercolour paper. What was possibly the first article to be written on Albert Namatjira's work appeared in The Advertiser (Adelaide) July 28, 1937 under the heading An Arunta Landscapist. Among his early admirers, was the Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia, Louis McCubbin, who noted It is remarkable how this Aborigines has grasped so readily the European conception of art. His painting of Mount Hermannsburg is outstanding in its realism, light and form and solidity of hills. Altogether, the Aborigines' knowledge of tone and colour value is extraordinary.

1938: On June 13, 1938, Rubina gave birth to their ninth child, Keith, and Albert his wife and seven remaining children were not finding life fairly crammed in their small hut at the Mission.
In August, a number of Albert's watercolour works were included in a exhibition of Native Handicrafts that was held in the Lower Town Hall, Melbourne.
In September, Albert was encouraged by the interest shown in his works by Lady Huntingfield, wife of the Governor of Victoria, who was on a visit to the Mission. Lady Huntingfield later that year opened his first Solo Exhibition. Title Albert Namatjira, Central Australian Water Colours, 1938, this was held at the Fine Art Society Gallery in Melbourne from December 5 to December 17, 1938. R H Croll provided the introduction to the catalogue for this exhibition. Forty-one watercolours were exhibited, ranging in price from one to six guineas and all were sold within three days. These were his first works signed Albert Namatjira. His works prior to this time had been signed Albert.
Learning of the success of the exhibition, Albert, his wife and family, set forth on a long journey to some of his favourite painting sites.

1939: Rubina gave birth to their tenth child, a son, named Maurice. Watercolour works were chosen for Albert's second Solo Exhibition that was opened by Dr Charles Duguid on November 2, 1939 in the Royal South Australian Society of Arts Gallery in Adelaide. Thirty five watercolours were exhibited at this exhibition, and twenty of these sold within the first half-hour for prices ranging from two and half to eight guineas.
From this exhibition, Albert sold his first work to a Public Gallery. The work was Haasts Bluff - Illum-baura which was purchased by the Art Gallery of South Australia and later illustrated in The Art of Albert Namatjira by C P Mountford, published in 1944. Albert produced another watercolour work under a similar title Ullambaura Haast Bluff which is in the Art Gallery of Western Australia collection and which was discussed in The West Australian Art Gallery, Monthly Feature vol. 4, no. 20, August 1967.

1940: Rex Battarbee was appointed liaison officer to Hermannsburg as a wartime security measure.
An Advisory Council was established to supervise both the sale and standard of Alberts work. Battarbee was elected Chairman of this Council, and Albert was advised to restrict himself to fifty watercolours a year and that the prices would be fixed between three and fifteen guineas.
Due to the wartime shortage of watercolour paper, Albert painted up to fifty works on sandpapered sections of beanwood tree, each approximately 25x40cm in size.

1944: His third Solo Exhibition Water Colours of Central Australia by Albert Namatjira was held at the Myer Mural Hall in Melbourne from April 17 to April 28, 1944. Thirty eights works were exhibited, thirty-seven of which were for sale, with prices ranging from ten to thirty-five guineas. The exhibition was very successful, with all the works selling very rapidly.
He became the first Aboriginal person to be entered in Who's Who in Australia and during this year the Melbourne Bread and Cheese Club published Mountford's The Art of Albert Namatjira.

1945: In March 1945, his first Solo Exhibition was held in Sydney. Title Exhibition of Water Colours Painted in Central Australia by Albert Namatjira, this was held in Anthony Horden's Fine Art Exhibition Gallery and opened by Professor A P Elkin, Professor of Anthropology at Sydney University. The prices ranged from ten to thirty-five guineas, and within minutes of opening, all forty-four exhibited watercolours were sold.
The success of this exhibition provided Albert with the needed finance to build a small cottage for his family a few kilometres from the Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission. The cottage consisted of two rooms built from the local sandstone, which had been cut into blocks.
Albert continued with his painting, and now regularly took his sons, Enos and Oscar and the three Pareroultja brothers with him.

1946: Another Solo Exhibition, titled Water Colours of Central Australia by Albert Namatjira, Arrernte Artist was held from March 12 to March 25, 1946, this time at the Royal South Australian Society of Arts Gallery in Adelaide. The watercolour works ranged in price from ten to forty guineas, and within half an hour of the exhibition being opened by Mr A R Downer, thirty-six of the forty-one exhibited works were sold.
Many of the works featured a foreground group or lone ghost gum, which became very much a motif in many of his works. Other trees he regularly painted included corwood trees and grass trees.
Among the many purchasers of works from this exhibition, were the Governor of South Australia, Sir Charles Willoughby Norrie and the Art Gallery of Western Australia.

In August 1946, His Royal Highness, the Duke of Gloucester, then Governor-General of Australia, who was accompanied by the Duchess, visited Albert Namatjira and witnessed him painting in Standley Chasm.
A 16mm film was produced by C P Mountford, title Namatjira, the painter, which was released in commercial cinemas throughout Australia in 1948.

1947: In March 1947, Albert was admitted to Alice Springs Hospital and was diagnosed as having Angina pectoris. His doctor suggested that he should lose weight, and Albert decided to go back to country with his wife and family and live off the bush and leave his truck at home.
It was noticeable on his return that he had lost weight, and he looked fit and healthy.
He held his first Solo Exhibition in Alice Sprints. This was held at Griffith House, and once again all his paintings sold, with prices ranging from eighteen to forty-five guineas.
One of his works was sent to London, with two other watercolours by Arrernte artists and presented to Princess Elizabeth on the occasion of her 21st birthday.
During 1947, Albert received his first income tax assessment. This he found confusing and incomprehensible, and was the first of many anomalies regarding the rights of Aboriginal people that Albert had to confront. Albert was a ward of the State and not a citizen of the Commonwealth and therefore was not subject to the laws that applied to white Australians. However, he was still expected to pay income tax.
A Solo Exhibition of his works was held in Brisbane, title Albert Namatjira Watercolours of Central Australia, the exhibition was held at the Commercial Bank Chambers in Queens Street, Brisbane from November 4 to November 8, 1947. Twenty-nine works were exhibited and these ranged in price from eighteen to fifty-five guineas. The Queensland Art Gallery purchased one of the works from this exhibition, and again the exhibition was a great success with seventeen of the works selling at a specially arranged preview.

1948: In November 1948, another solo Exhibition was held in Melbourne, Titled Albert Namatjira, Arunta Tribesman: Central Australian Water Colours, the exhibition of forty-four works was held at the Athenaeum Art Gallery from November 1 to November 12, 1948. Prices for the works ranged from eighteen to fifty-five guineas. Other Arrernte artists achieved success with several exhibitions of their works in the southern State Capitals.

1949: This was a year of considerable unhappiness and disappointment for Albert. His daughter Hazel died at Hermannsburg in May and in July his son Ewald accidentally shot himself and lost his sight in his right eye.
Albert was further upset when his application for a Northern Territory grazing lease was rejected. An article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, November 6, 1949, p 3: Albert Namatjira: Aboriginal artist plans to start cattle station.

1950: His unhappiness continued with the loss of his daughter Martha at Haast's Bluff in January. In June, the magazines Pix and People (June 7, 1950, pp 26-31) devoted long articles to Albert and his art, and to Australia's neglect of its Aboriginal people. In July, Albert decided to once again apply for his graziers licence, this time with the Native Affairs Branch and Lands Department in Darwin. Albert travelled to Darwin and saw the ocean for the first time. An article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald July 20, 1950 p1: Albert Namatjira, Aboriginal artist in Darwin to paint sea on which he gazed for the first time. He painted four scenes of the area, and sold two of these to a representative from The Australian Women's Weekly.
However, his trip to Darwin was in vain for his application for a graziers licence was again refused. Albert returned to Hermannsburg, sold the cottage he had built, and bought an Army disposals hut which he erected near the Mission buildings.
He held another Solo Exhibition, this time at Anthony Horderns' Fine Art Gallery in Sydney. Titled Catalogue of selected works from the brush of Namatjira, the exhibition ran from August 15 to August 29, 1950. The prices of the works ranged from twenty to sixty-five guineas, and thirty-five of the forty-one exhibited works were sold. An article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald August 16, 1960 p.1: Rich to buy paintings by Aboriginal artist, Albert Namatjira.
Some of the proceeds from the sale went towards the purchase of a caravan, and in September, Albert and his wife set off in their truck and caravan on yet another return to country.
In October, an eight page booklet titled Albert Namatjira: Native Artist written by Pastor F W Albrecht was published.
It was around December 1950 that forgeries of Albert's works began to appear in Melbourne and Adelaide, and the first article on forged Albert's works in Adelaide appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald December 17, 1950 p.1 under the heading Forged copies of Namatjira. Generally these forgeries were inferior watercolour works which had been signed Albert Namatjira.

1951: On his return from country, he informed those in charge at the Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission that he intended to build a new home in Alice Springs. He was told that this was not allowed, and his application to buy a building block was not granted. The reason given, was the law that Aboriginal people were prohibited from remaining within the town boundaries after dark.
This rejection greatly upset Albert, and now feeling somewhat dejected and morose, sought for a short while the company of his tribesmen, living in a crude hut built of bags and old iron at Morris Soak, a camp at a waterhole several kilometres outside of Alice Springs.
He returned to Hermannsburg, and in May 1951, several of his watercolours were included in an exhibition with the works of other artists in Rex Battarbee's house in Alice Springs. Five of his watercolour works and one oil, for which the catalogue caption read (this is the only painting in oils this artist has ever done), were exhibited in a group exhibition at Tye's Art Gallery in Bourke Street, Melbourne. The exhibition was titled Albert Namatjira, Otto Pareroultja, Edwin Pareroultja and Aborigine Artists and ran from July 2 to July 14, 1951.
The Aranda Arts Council, chaired by Rex Battarbee, was established to help in the prevention of forgeries and was also established to control the distribution and sale of works by Arrernte artists. In warning the public of the forgeries, the Aranda Arts Council and the Department of Native Affairs suggested that buyers should in future only purchase those works by Arrernte artists that had their official stamps on the reverse of the works.

1952: In April, Albert's works were included in group exhibition of seven Aranda artists in Anthony Horderns' Fine Art Gallery in Sydney. The title for the exhibition catalogue was Catalogue of an Exhibition by the Arrernte Group. Seven Aboriginal watercolour artists - Albert Namatjira, Edwin Pareroultja, Otto Pareroultja, Reuben Pareroultja, Richard Maketarinja, Cordula Ebatarinja, Ewald Namatjira.
There were eight of Albert Namatjira's works in this exhibition, and their prices ranged from forty to seventy-five guineas. At the end of the first day of this exhibition, only four of the fifty-seven exhibited works remained unsold. Importantly, this exhibition included the works of Cordula Ebatarinja, the first Arrernte woman to be recognised as an artist.
Later that year, a Solo Exhibition of Albert's works was organised by Rex Battarbee at his home in Alice Springs. Among the works exhibited was reportedly the largest work ever painted by Albert Namatjira, and this was a landscape depicting Mount Hermannsburg, measuring 85cm by 45cm, and priced at one hundred guineas.
Eight of Albert's works were included in the exhibition, title Water Colours by the Arrernte Group of Aboriginal Artists - Under the auspices of the Aranda Arts Council which was held at the Athenaeum Gallery in Melbourne in November 1952. The catalogue noted that the exhibition was to close Noon, Saturday, 15 November 1952. In all fifty-six works were listed as exhibited, with the prices of Albert's eight works, ranging from sixty to one hundred and fifty guineas.
Soon after, Albert's works were included in a Group exhibition with the Pareroultja brothers, Edwin and Otto at the Royal South Australian Society of Arts Gallery in Adelaide. The exhibition of fifty works was titled Exhibition of Central Australia Water-colours by Albert Namatjira, Edwin Pareroultja, Otto Pareroultja. Under the auspices of the Aranda Arts Council. The exhibition ran from 18 -29 November and Albert's exhibited eight works ranging in price from forty to seventy-five guineas.

1953: Albert Namatjira was awarded the Queen's Coronation Medal.

1954: Albert flew to Darwin and then Sydney and on to Canberra where on February 15 he was presented at Government House to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh.
On February 18, he left Canberra to spend a week in Sydney with Frank Clune. While in Sydney, Albert opened an exhibition of contemporary Aboriginal art at Anthony Hordern & Sons Fine Art Galleries, which included twelve of his own works, ranging in price from thirty-five to seventy-five guineas. The exhibition titled An Exhibition of Aboriginal Art, also included the works of eight other Aboriginal artists. The exhibition was again a great success, with all paintings being sold by the end of the second day.
Albert then travelled by train to Melbourne, then on to Adelaide and from Adelaide back to Alice Springs.

1955: He spent much of 1955 on country and on painting trips with other Arrernte artists.
He exhibited in Sydney in a Group exhibition of twelve Arrernte artists and once again the exhibition was successful.

1956: In March, his father Jonathon fell ill and died, and his death is said to have affected Albert greatly. In November that year, and interesting article Genius in Bondage: Frank Clune lifts the lid off Aboriginal Art Scandal appeared in the Sunday Magazine of Truth November 4, 1956, p.17.
Albert retained a deep understanding of the mythology of the Arrernte, and this was shown in his relating of three Arrernte myths to Roland Robinson for his book The Feathered Serpent that was published in 1956. The three myths were: Erintja the Devil-dog related by Tonanga (Albert Namatjira) of the Arrernte tribe: The Eagle-men of Alkutnama related by Tonanga of the Arrernte tribe: and The Old-man and his Six Sons, the Namatuna related by Tonanga of the Arrernte tribe.
In December, he travelled to Sydney with his son, Keith to pick up a new utility truck that was donated to him by the AMPOL Petroleum Company. While there he sat for a portrait by Sir William Dargie. The portrait won the Archibald Prize that year, and in 1957 was purchased by the Queensland Art Gallery.

1957: Albert and his wife, Rubina were awarded full Australian Citizenship. He could now vote, drink in hotels, take bottled beer home, build a house anywhere he wanted, and demand the basic wage if he ever worked for an employer. But the anomaly existed that his children were still considered wards of the State and therefore if he wanted to build a house in Alice Springs, his children could not legally stay with him overnight.
In April 1957, he travelled to Perth and stayed with Mr and Mrs Claude Hotchin at their property Mandalay. The Hotchin's were great admirers and patrons of his work.
On his return from Perth, Albert set about helping Norman K Wallis with the production of his film My Father's Country which was later bought by AMPOL Petroleum Company. During the filming, Albert spoke of his father who had died the previous year. He was a flying ant said Albert, referring to the Aboriginal belief that their ancestors were animals or insects or trees or even stones. He came flying all the way down from the MacDonnell Ranges, way over from Ount Sonder, way down the Finke River, way down the Ormiston. The 'old men' they tell us these things and I tell my sons. They, too, must know about my father's country.
A few weeks after the shooting of the film, Albert spent three weeks in the Alice Springs Hospital with a badly burnt foot that he had neglected. On leaving the hospital, it was noted that he looked sullen, aged and ill. His failing health greatly affected the quality of his paintings, and there were rumours that he now only painted the outlines of the landscapes and that other artists completed the paintings.
In August 1957, Albert's works were exhibited in the Canadian Trade Fair in Vancouver and Winnipeg.

1958: Early in 1958, Albert was again admitted to the Alice Springs Hospital, this time with a severe injury to his left hand. The bonnet of his new truck had fallen on it and lacerated it badly that his index finger had to be amputated.
After leaving hospital he went on a five-week painting excursion with John Brackenreg, and on his return went to live at the camp at Morris Soak.
A major exhibition of thirty-five of his watercolours was held in the Claude Hotchin Gallery at Boans of Perth. The exhibition catalogue was title Catalogue of Originals by Albert Namatjira, and the exhibition ran from June 30 to July 12, 1958. The prices of the watercolour works exhibited ranged from fifty-five to one hundred and twenty guineas.
In August, trouble broke out at the Morris Soak camp, when a young Pitjantjatjara woman was killed by her husband. Albert who had access to liquor was cautioned, and was told that liquor was the indirect cause of the girl's death. Albert left the camp, and then revisited his relatives at the camp later in the month. He was subsequently charged with supplying liquor to members of his tribe who were wards of the State.
On October 7, 1958 he was sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour for six months for during a taxi journey to Hermannsburg, supplying liquor, namely rum, to fellow tribesman, Henoch Raberaba, who was a ward of the State and therefore prohibited by law from drinking intoxicating liquor.
Albert's sentence was later reduced to three months imprisonment at the Papunya Native Reserve on light duties. His doctor and others at the Reserve were greatly concerned about his state of health and he was granted full remission for good behaviour and his sentence shortened to two months.
A group exhibition title Exhibition of Watercolours by Albert Namatjira and other Arrernte Artists was held at the Moreton Galleries, AMP Building, Edward Street, Brisbane, and ran from October 6 to October 17, 1958. The catalogue provided brief personal details on each of the exhibiting artists.
Other galleries that handled the sale of Albert's works and signed prints of his works included the Artlovers' Gallery in Sydney. In one of their exhibitions, titled Watercolours, Exhibition by Albert Namatjira: Chieftain of the Arrernte Tribesmen thirty-eight works were shown, with thirty-five of these works for sale. The prices asked ranged from forty-five to one hundred and thirty-five guineas. An interesting item of note with this exhibition is entry 39 that is for a specially signed reproduction of one of Albert's works. The catalogue notes that proceeds from the sale of this print are for funds needed to build a small cottage for Albert near Mt Gillen, West of Alice Springs.

1959: Albert was released from the Papunya Native Reserve on May 19, 1959, but appeared to have lost his will to live. He had lost his interest in painting and was in what appeared to be a state of severe depression. He accepted the offer of a small cottage at Papunya, but his condition rapidly deteriorated.
He was admitted to the Alice Springs Hospital where he suffered a heart attack and with the onset of Pneumonia it was only a matter of hours before he died.
Albert Namatjira died at the Alice Springs Hospital on August 8, 1959 and was buried the next day in the Alice Springs Cemetery. His old friend, Pastor Albrecht conducted the service.
A 20 foot high cairn of natural stone was later erected near the Hermannsburg Mission with a plaque which reads In Memory of Albert Namatjira 1902-1959. This is the landscape which inspired the Artist.
Soon after his death a major sale of his works was held in Sydney at Anthony Hordern & Sons Fine Art Galleries. The catalogue for the Sale of Albert Namatjira Pictures lists seventy-nine works of which eleven are listed as painted by members of the Namatjira Family and the remaining sixty-eight as produced by Albert Namatjira. His works were now commanding considerably high prices, especially for Australian watercolours, and the prices in this sale ranged from twenty-five to two hundred and twenty guineas.
Since his death, his watercolour works have appeared in numerous sale exhibition throughout Australia, and regularly appear in the major Art Auction House catalogues. His artistic legacy was passed on to his children Enos, Oscar, Ewald, Keith and Maurice and many of their children are also no recognized artists.
The Battarbee family continued with their interest in his works, and by the mid-1960's regularly showed his works in the Namatjira Room of their Battarbee Tmara-Mara Galleries which was situated in Sturt Terrace in Alice Springs. Also available through their gallery were a number of publications on the Arrernte Group of Artists, and books by and about Rex Battarbee and his art, and his role in the story of Centralian Art.
Included in the list of catalogues is a Battarbeen Tmara-mara Galleries catalogue from the Mid 1960's and a further later catalogue from around 1970.

1971: An important interview with Rex Battarbee, discussing Namatjira . The man behind the myth was published in Walkabout October 1971, pp68-72.

1975: The Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies produced a film Sons of Namatjira.

1982: The Lutherans relinquished control of Hermannsburg, which today is known as Ntaria, and 3807 square kilometres of land was returned to the control of the traditional landowners.

1984: In June 1984, a major retrospective exhibition of Albert Namatjira's work was held to make the opening of the Alice Springs Araluen Arts Centre. The exhibition, titled Albert Namatjira was held from June 20 to July 14, 1984.
Patrick McCaughey, Director of the National Gallery of Victoria wrote a large and very significant and complimentary article Namatijira in his own landscape for The Age Wednesday, July 11, 1984, p. 14. In his article McCaughey noted that the exhibition of Albert Namatjira's works on show at the Araluen Arts Centre should change minds and dent accumulated prejudices' about his works.